


The Heir

by ChromeEdwardian



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Adventures in Warden-Commandering, Babies, F/M, Gen, Grey Wardens, M/M, Mistress, Post-Awakening
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-03 05:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4089037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChromeEdwardian/pseuds/ChromeEdwardian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warden-Commander Surana is asked to babysit Alistair's newborn daughter while he and his queen make a trip to Highever. But with the arrival of so many new would-be Wardens, things could get slightly tricky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to reconcile Anders's Awakening and DAII timelines is very much not worth it.

The baby lay in the middle of the divan, legs kicking spasmodically, hands grasping for phantoms. She had a light dusting of brown hair and her eyes were the deep blue of a newborn. Her father, the king, stood above her, worrying his lip.

"She won't come to harm, Alistair," Warden-Commander Tinuviel Surana said, still staring at the new princess. "Go to your wife."

Alistair groaned. "I can't believe my child was born at Vigil's Keep of all places. A barracks!"

She frowned at him. "Is my home really that unpleasant for you?"

"Your _home_ is in Denerim with me." Sighing after a beat, he apologized. The two of them regarded the baby once more. Her mouth gaped open, scanning the ceiling for some unknown danger. Tinuviel had agreed to watch her while her parents made a quick overnight trip to Highever. They were supposed to have been there approximately a week earlier, but while they had stopped at Vigil's Keep for the night, the queen had gone into labor, and Juliana Margaret Pentaghast Theirin arrived seven hours later. The rest of this week had been devoted to the queen's recovery.

Tinuviel reached out and stroked the back of his hand with her finger. He quickly grabbed her hand and guided her closer. "It's starting to sink in, you know. Being a father."

"It only makes you more delicious," Tinuviel replied, guiding his hand around her waist. She lay her head on his upper arm. 

"Oh!" Alistair pointed at Juliana. "She's doing the tongue thing again."

Tinuviel laughed. "She thinks we're being disgusting."

"She has no idea." He fell into a nearby seat, pulling her down with him. Almost unthinkingly, Tinuviel wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his hair. It smelled so wonderful. "Don't tell your mother," Alistair called to Juliana. "But this woman," he placed a wet kiss on Tinuviel's collarbone, "makes your father very very happy."

"Please don't say such things," Tinuviel laughed as his kisses began to rove over every inch of bare skin he could find. "I still feel awfully." The queen had addressed her several days after the wedding, saying that while she respected Tinuviel's claim to Alistair, she did not want to see any trace of it. What they did out of her sight was their own business. What complicated cobwebs of rules they had constructed, because Tinuviel couldn't give up her heart.

"I--" Alistair stopped at a stern pounding on the door. "Duty calls, my love."

Tinuviel kissed the tip of his nose and got up. "Safe travels. Give Teyrn Cousland my regards." 

She went over to the couch to pick up the wriggling baby as Alistair opened the door to speak to the messenger. The two of them walked over to the door, and Tinuviel made Juliana's hand wave. 

"Say goodbye, pet. Mummy and Daddy will be home soon."

Alistair flicked the tip of his finger over Juliana's cheek. The baby's face crunched up and she sneezed. A small laugh, and then he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

It was later that night, and supper was served. The soldiers sat intermingled with the Wardens, and the dining hall was filled with laughter and chatter. Tinuviel was pleased that the two factions were getting on so quickly. After the business with the Architect and the Mother, Tinuviel was beginning to think the Wardens would never be rebuilt, and that Vigil's Keep would always echo with emptiness. Looking around now, three months later, it was hard to see why those fears had any standing. 

Juliana was lying in a basket on top of a small pillow Tinuviel had cushioned it with. Her friends had laughed to see her struggling with it when she entered, trying to find a place to set it where no one would disturb her.

"She should be sleeping in her nursery," Nathaniel said. He gestured to Anders: trying to keep Ser Pounce-a-Lot from getting too interested in the newcomer, but too distracted writing a lesson plan to do it well. "This is unnecessary."

"He's only sniffing her!" Anders protested. So far, he seemed to be taking his new role as instructor to the Wardens' new mages very seriously.

"I didn't want to leave her alone. And we didn't plan on having nursemaids when the royal party arr--." She faded off. Nathaniel wasn't buying it. "I'm doing the best I can."

Sigrun approached and scooted Nathaniel aside, sitting down between him and Anders. Her face lit up. "Well that's new!" 

"And contrary to popular belief she isn't mine," Tinuviel said. 

"Who thought that? Hello, baby! Hello!"

"Anyone who knows how much she enjoys bedding people," Anders cut in, winking at Tinuviel. 

"It _is_ a rewarding hobby, as I'm sure you well know."

Nathaniel made a disgusted grunt and tucked into his food, and supper proceeded. Sigrun animatedly described a novel she recently read by a debut author called Tethras, while she gently rocked the basket. Anders was leaned back in his seat, watching his cat go off on some errand. Juliana slept through it all. 

Tinuviel caught sight of Senechal Varel and went to waylay him, asking her friends to keep an eye on the baby. 

"Oh good, I was meaning to talk to you," Varel said, and they made their way to a quieter spot in the dining hall. "There's a small group of young people who are interested in becoming Grey Wardens outside the gates. They've been waiting there for most of the day. Will you go out to them?"

"Are they causing trouble?"

"No, but I wouldn't see them die from exposure."

"Very dramatic of you. I'd be happy to speak with them. Also, I'd like someone to look into importing some pretty tapestries for the main hall, if you please."

"Warden-Commander." He bowed and then went on his way. From the tables, there was a pronounced shout above the clamor of the others. The man rose and shouted, "Get back here, you dratted cat!"

 

The group outside the gates was about seven strong, human and elven women. Tinuviel balanced the now-awake Juliana on her hip and opened the gates. 

"Maker, it's her," one of the women said. Tinuviel was younger than her, and for a moment, she was humbled that there were older people in Ferelden who admired her. A human cooed at the baby. "Is she yours?" 

No one ought to know she was holding the heir to the throne, so Tinuviel didn't say anything about it. "I understand you're interested in joining the Grey Wardens." Secretly, she hoped they didn't truly have their hearts in it. While the majority of the other Wardens were guests from Orlais, the only Grey Wardens she had conscripted had only been her friends, and she was almost certain Duncan would have been a tad more discerning. And, thank the Maker, she had only seen one of her conscripts fall victim to the Taint, but it still disturbed her to think she might witness several more deaths. She planned on writing to the First Warden for help soon. All she had done was slice open a dragon, she didn't know how to lead a proper army. She was a follower by nature, and she liked it that way.

The women nodded. "We can fight," one said. "You proved an elf can rise to greatness," said another. "I know I can be put to better use out here than in the alienage."

Tinuviel hesitated. She wanted to get to know them first. Or at least see how well they fought. The fortress was big enough, perhaps Varel could find some beds for these women. At any rate, she could feel the air start to change. Rain was on its way.

"Come in, then. I won't make any decisions tonight, but I will think on it and speak with you in the morning."

When she and Juliana were back inside, and the Warden hopefuls were squared away, most of the dining hall had emptied out, except for a few stragglers. Anders was one of those still at the table. Tinuviel's stomach rumbled, so she went back to her plate. 

"What did Ser Pounce-a-Lot do?" she asked. She tried to put Juliana back in the basket, but the cat had taken it over. His tail twitched peevishly.

"Just swiped some meat off the plate of Ser Rolan. That brute sneered at me this morning."

Juliana had to make do lying on the table. Tinuviel picked the meat out of her cold stew and began to eat the rest. "Is that really worth pursuing?"

Anders snorted. "It starts out with rude comments, next thing you know they're pinning things on you because they know you won't do a thing."

She gave a small smile. "I'm sorry. I suppose I never truly understood you."

"We weren't friends then. You had no reason to." He shrugged. "You had it better than the rest of us, anyway."

"I'm sorry," Tinuviel said again, quieter. "I know now. Going back to Kinloch after being in the Wardens...well, I don't think I'll ever go back to a Circle."

"Thank the Maker for the Wardens, eh? Saving criminals and apostates one sorry ass at a time."

"My ass is hardly sorry."

"And neither is mine. Lucky us."

Tinuviel finished her stew and dabbed at her lips with her cuff. As if on cue, Juliana began to cry. Anders grimaced, and Tinuviel reached over to pick her up. But Anders suddenly looked panicked.

"What is it?"

Anders put his hand up to shield his face. "It's Kristoff...or Justice or whoever. I can't let him see me."

Tinuviel didn't turn around, instead she leaned in and asked, "Would you like to hide out in my quarters for a little while?" She gestured to Juliana. "I don't think I'll be sleeping any time soon. I'd appreciate the company."

His expression morphed into one of gratitude. "Only if I can have some of sparkling wine sent up while I'm there."

Tinuviel smiled. "Certainly. If I can't drink it, someone ought to."


	3. Chapter 3

Anders held Juliana on one knee, a glass of wine on the other. The baby was still crying and jerking around, but Anders, apparent genius that he was, did not spill a drop. Tinuviel held a bottle of the queen's milk in her hands as she summoned a minor fire spell to warm it up. 

"What did Justice want with you?"

"He had a proposition for me. I'm...still thinking about it. I don't want him pestering me about it until I know for sure."

Tinuviel's curiosity was piqued, but she did not pry. She took Juliana and fed her the milk and stared blankly past Anders in thought. Was it time for her to move on from Alistair? Her immediate reaction to that thought was 'never' but he was a remnant of a previous chapter in her life. Everyone else, even Morrigan, had gone on with their lives...excluding Oghren, of course, which was _just wonderful_. And now with a wife and child and kingdom, how much attention did she think Alistair would be able to spare her? Their trysts would become less emotionally fulfilling and more about getting a little sex in before someone or something parted them again. The visions she had of their future together only a year ago, she had pictured riding white-haired into Denerim, knowing the love of her life would be waiting in her quarters with dinner, conversation, and quiet love. Now, she doubted the romance would even last the next few years. Especially with her duties as Warden-Commander. Then, her thoughts fizzled as she could only register the weighty despair that settled on her.

"Er, should I leave?" Anders cut in.

"What?" Tinuviel asked, wiping quickly at her eyes, smearing the light makeup she had on. The baby in her arms had finished. Instead of looking Anders in the eye, Tinuviel played a little with Juliana, humming tunelessly. She reckoned Leliana should have been here to sing a lullaby. "No, I'm...just thinking."

"Well, stop it." He finished another glass of wine. "It sets a bad influence for that one."

Juliana's face suddenly grew very serious before crying. Tinuviel tried talking her out of it, checked the cloth diaper she wore, but nothing would console her.

"What do I do?"

"Well, in my experience, just make her Tranquil. Fixes 'em like that." Anders and Tinuviel frowned at each other. Bad joke, they agreed. "Here," said Anders, getting up. "She wants burping." 

Tinuviel handed him the baby and watched him pat her on the back, bouncing, until a tiny pop came from her mouth, and the crying ceased.

"Thank you," Tinuviel murmured, taking Juliana back. "I think I may put her to bed and draw for a while longer."

Anders was only halfway through the bottle. "Suit yourself. I, for one, am going to sneak over to our Nathaniel Howe's room. I'm very curious to see what he's like once he's lubricated." He waggled the bottle, but Tinuviel bit back a laugh nonetheless. He left the room, walking on his toes, calling out for Ser Pounce.

Juliana woke at least four times before Tinuviel was resigned to staying up for the rest of the night. She let Juliana groan in her crib while she stepped out to find a servant to fetch her some tea. It was cold in the halls, and Tinuviel held her arms tightly to herself. There ought to have been someone around, right? No, it was hopeless. She'd just have to go down to the kitchen and get the tea herself. She turned back to go into her room.

The only sound now was the crackling of the fire. At last, Juliana had fallen back asleep. But as she got closer to the crib, she wasn't so sure. And when the crib turned up empty, Tinuviel's stomach fell to the floor. Immediately, she put out a repulsion field, hoping to shake out wherever the thief was hiding, but she was alone in here. Locking the door, Tinuviel ran from her rooms to Senechal Varel's door. She pounded on it until he answered, sleepily.

"Sound the alarm, rouse the guards. The princess is gone," she said. Of course she was gone. It wouldn't do for things to go smoothly. Tinuviel was not a bitter girl, but this was uncalled for.

The Keep slowly awakened with Wardens and soldiers and servants alike joining the search. The guards at the gate hadn't seen anyone pass through, there was no sign of entry into the Deep Roads. It was very likely the baby was still in the castle. That was a positive thing at least, but Tinuviel began to burn with anger at whoever had stolen her. Obviously, stealing the heir to the throne was a nice way to get ransom, at whatever age. But no one really knew she was an heir. Or maybe they did. Perhaps one of the soldiers had become discontent and wanted out. There were, after all, so many people here now that she couldn't keep personal track of every one of them.

She gasped, suddenly knowing.


	4. Chapter 4

The door smacked the stone wall sharply when Tinuviel forced it open. She ran in and saw the seven women sitting on the floor. It looked like they were mending a pile of clothing they hadn't had with them before.

"Er...where is she?" Tinuviel tried to sound angry, or at least stern, but she had one of those voices that could never truly convey any unpleasant emotion. 

"Oh," a human woman said. "There are so many she's in the castle."

That they were dodging in such a manner convinced her. "Where did you take the baby? And--" she counted "you're missing someone."

"She's not your baby," said another. "I asked."

"No, she's not, but why does that mean you can take her? I'm watching her for her parents." They weren't going to get to a conclusion here. Tinuviel wondered what Duncan would do. She even wondered what Alistair might do, and he hadn't even been a leader for that long. But if Alistair were here, he would lose his mind that his daughter went missing.

"Nora, I--" an elf appeared at another doorway, stopping suddenly.

Tinuviel saw Juliana in her arms. She ran toward the elf, threw a freezing spell at her, and grabbed the baby. The others stood up in offense, but she pushed them away with a wave of force. "You will stay. Right here. While I inform the guards. Please." For good measure, she cast a paralyzing spell over the room, and left. 

Juliana, of course, had no opinion on what had happened.

Running to the main hall, she ran into Nathaniel closing a door quietly behind him. "What's going on?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry, I can't speak right now. I need to find the senechal."

He looked alarmed.

"Actually, while you're up, can you go down the hall and keep an eye on the last room on the left? I think I have some prisoners now."

The door opened and Anders walked out, sleepily resting his head on the back of Nathaniel's neck. "He's busy," he mumbled. The look on Nathaniel's face was one split between wanting to do as his Commander asked, and tenderness for the man behind him.

"You _think_ you have some prisoners?"

Tinuviel sighed. "I know I have prisoners, I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but they literally had her right there."

Nathaniel peeled Anders off of him and started down the hall. "I'm on it."

 

Later, with the baby with Sigrun, Tinuviel approached the dais in her official Warden uniform. The women stood in a line before her. Her heart pounded. Certainly she had made decisions like these before, ones where the fate of those who stood before her rested solely in her hands, but those had all been during the Blight. Those decisions had been in the heat of the moment. And not in front of her entire keep. It was times like these, she questioned Weisshaupt's decision to make her Ferelden's Warden-Commander, to take Duncan's place. Just because she was an excellent mage didn't mean she would lead well. She was only twenty-two, after all. There were some Orlesian Wardens here that she knew would make great Commanders, no matter they weren't Fereldan, right?

Of course, that was rather silly, wasn't it? Better to get this over with while Alistair and Helena were still away.

She raised her hands for quiet and began.

"Because you deigned to spirit Princess Juliana away, I see it fit to dole out a proper sentence." She had been thinking what that might be exactly. She had never liked punishment, and the more she spoke with Anders, the punishments she saw in the Circle grew less and less appealing to use as reference. There was also the context in which they had stolen Juliana. What had they wanted with her? If they were maleficarum, it would go one way; if they were lonely and confused, it could go another.

"Erm. You will all be locked up separately in our dungeons until further notice." She nodded at the guards and walked quickly off the dais in embarassment.


	5. Chapter 5

She paced around her desk, mind blank, while Juliana lay burbling in a chair. What a fool she had made of herself back there, and for nothing! She still had to think of what to do with these women. Maker knew how quickly word had spread that Tinuviel Surana, Warden-bleeding-Commander, couldn't keep track of a child. She could hardly stand herself at that moment.

There was a knock on the door, before Helena walked in. They smiled uneasily at each other, and Helena went to scoop up her baby. Tinuviel, for once, was glad Alistair wasn't there. She couldn't bear to let him see that she'd failed to keep his child safe, and that she was failing as Warden-Commander. It shouldn't have been this difficult, she thought, as she and Helena exchanged brief plesantries. If Alistair, silly-headed boy that he had been, could end up leading an entire country, shouldn't she be able to come up with some sort of reasonable discipline? Or prevent such mishaps from happening in the first place?

Alistair's voice drifted into her study from the hall, and she quickly walked out, trying to avoid him. She wasn't sure where she was going at first, until she ended up in the dungeon. It was darker than she remembered. They hadn't had many prisoners since the attack on Vigil's Keep. The odd malcontent, sure, but they never stayed long. Just enough for them to calm down. She took a steadying breath, and sought out Nora, the one who had stolen Juliana in the first place.

The elf was crouching, fingers worrying at something in the floor. Tinuviel watched her until Nora noticed her, and then they stared at each other, unmoving. Nora looked competant, to say the least, with her tired eyes and her muscular arms. Tinuviel would have gladly made her a Grey Warden. But of course, that was out of the question now. 

"What did you want with her?" Tinuviel asked, quietly.

Nora's nose wrinkled, and she looked back at the floor. 

"Are you maleficarum?"

Another woman called from another cell. "Don't listen to the Circle bitch!"

Nora looked up at Tinuviel again, but Tinuviel wouldn't let herself react. She had been called worse by fellow apprentices while in the Circle. And that caused her thoughts to build herself up. But it reminded her that she wasn't an apprentice anymore. She was a woman, a full-fledged mage, and she was learning something every day about how her country worked. She was talented at primal magic, and most of the time, she had a good heart. And she wouldn't let a small bout of indecision undermine the position of power she had earned.

Tinuviel swept her hair away from her eyes and said to everyone in the dungeon. "Never mind. We will proceed with the Joining as planned." And she explained to them the situation they were in, just as Riordan had done for Loghain before Alistair had intervened. And when she finished, she walked calmly up to the Keep and informed the guard of her decision. 

There was still the looming conversation she would have with Alistair when it surfaced that she had let his daughter be stolen. Just as he had killed Loghain before his Joining, so too might he kill Nora. What she dreaded even more was the reaction to hearing that she'd been the one to let them in. So Tinuviel spirited herself away to the library to hide among the books, where she found Anders lying on his stomach in front of the fire. His hair was down, and he was dragging a leather thong across the floor, with Ser Pounce-a-Lot jumping after it. 

"Anders...?" she asked, softly, a sudden sadness coming over her.

He looked over his shoulder and sat up. Ser Pounce picked up the toy in his mouth and trotted across the room, tail held high. 

She sat down beside him. "You still love Karl, right?"

Anders's face became stony for a second. "Of course," he said, almost hesitating.

"But you said yourself you'll probably never see him again. And you and Nathaniel seem to have become...well..." She let the sentence trail off and started over. "How do you just accept that you can't be with the one person you ever loved? How do you move on?"

He thought about it for a moment, craning his neck to see where Ser Pounce had gotten off to. "Don't you remember?" His face split into a grin. "I told you about my plans for a harem."

The image of Nathaniel as part of a harem, and suddenly she burst into laughter. "And I have mine. But--"

"Listen, I...love Karl. Very much. Stupidly much, some might say. But I probably won't ever see him again. Not for lack of trying, mind you, but I _can_ be reasonable when pressed."

"No use pining?"

Anders shrugged. "I dunno. You and His Majesty seem to have things down. Probably no need for something so drastic."

Tinuviel leaned her head back and studied the ceiling. 

"So, just how big is this harem of yours?" Anders asked.


End file.
